Capital Reef

Last weekend the five of us packed up some gear and took off for a few days of camping.  Sorry E.! We missed you.  Wish you could have been with us.

We were pretty darn comfortable in our six-person spring bar tent...especially when it rained. We could sit under the awning (I knitted).  There was some hiking, some star gazing, some petroglyph sitings and some fruit picking.  On Friday, the rangers posted a flash flood warning for later in the afternoon for Spring Creek.  We're from this area and we know the danger of flash floods while hiking in ravines, so as the clouds started to creep in we decided to take a scenic car route far from Spring Creek .  Things were going great and when it started to rain, we got in the car and headed back to the campground.  And then this......

WAIT!!!!! We're nowhere near Spring Creek!  This spot was deep and fairly fast moving.

There were five or six low spots along the road back to the campground.  Those were our neighbors coming towards us across the creek, river, flood.  I'm not sure where they were going...there was just a lot more water behind us, a dead end canyon, and no one in their right mind would try to hike in the red mud, not to mention there was lightening striking all around.

This was the first flooded area, and we (and the 15 or 20 other vehicles behind us) plus the crazies driving toward us, sat and waited for a break in the rain and for the depth and swiftness of the water to subside until it was safe to cross.  Eventually, park personnel came out in trucks to try to shepard us across the dangerous flows.  We made a break for it and got through three dips before we lost sight of the convoy ahead.  And then we came to this one...

DEEP, RAGING, WIDE with a waterfall to boot.  We were the first car in the group and it was obvious that no one was getting through the deep and raging creek any time soon.  So we turned off the car, I got out my knitting (it pays to be prepared), and we waited.  It turned out to be a looooong wait.  There were hail stones and lightening and rain and the water was raging.  Tree branches and boulders were rolling down the creek into the rapids.  Finally after about an hour, a ranger came from behind us with more tourists.  When the flow had subsided about three feet, and slowed in speed, he let some of us go through.  The people in compacts had to wait a bit longer...but I'm assuming no one was complaining.  Hey, it beats being washed down the creek.

The flooding was a sight to behold.   Mother Nature doesn't joke around.  There's no controlling her.  She definitely showed who's the boss and it wasn't us.

I'm off to do the laundry.  Red dirt is hard to get out.  Wish me luck.